Ponyville's Reading Program
by KatLeePT
Summary: The ponies in Ponyville are losing interest in reading.


She emerged into the ancient building, slipping along with others and keeping her head low. She kept her famous, blue wings tucked in closely to her sides. It wouldn't do for her to be seen here, but she had to be here at least for a few minutes. She walked quietly through the room, ducking down whenever somebody who knew her appeared.

The entire Apple family passed her by, laughing and talking. She watched as they split up to go their separate ways, each with a different destination in mind. Pinkie Pie and Rarity were there, as well, but it was Pinkie Pie who went with Rarity's sister to the section for children. They had everything in this place, she thought, and she was sure there were other interesting things to investigate besides her target. Perhaps another day, she thought. Perhaps on a rainy day when she couldn't fly, she might check something else out, but for now, she was here with only one purpose in mind.

"You look troubled, Twi. What's wrong?"

She nearly jumped out of her skin at the soft voice of Fluttershy. She ducked behind a nearby corner and peered around at her friends. Twilight was examining the room carefully, but then she sighed. "There's hardly any children here," she whickered.

"There's Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle," Fluttershy was quick to note, "and two other children right over there. They look rather sweet."

"Four foals. That's the problem, Fluttershy. We're well into Summer vacation now, and very few little ponies have signed up for the library's reading program. Why, there's even only babies showing up for Story Hour! Well, babies and Pinkie Pie," Twilight admitted.

"And me," Spike added boastfully.

"Yes, Spike, and you." Twilight smiled down at her best friend. "I could never forget you."

"Of course not. No pony could forget me - " he started and then stopped as he caught sight of Rarity in the romance section. She flipped her mane, and he sighed.

"Any way, I'm worried, Fluttershy. Ponies aren't reading like they used to. Pretty soon, it's going to be a forgotten art."

Rainbow Dash snorted as she listened to her friends' conversation. Only an egghead would consider reading an art! She dragged a hoof across the carpet. She really shouldn't think of Twilight as an egghead any more, but she couldn't help herself. She read, but she still didn't let reading take over anything else in her life. She'd much rather be flying in her own adventure than just reading one. Even Daring Do couldn't make her stay at home with her muzzle in a book.

But still, her friend seemed genuinely worried. Taking a deep breath, she walked around the corner and out into the open. "Rainbow Dash!" Twilight exclaimed, clearly surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Hum, Dash does read now," Fluttershy spoke up, as quiet as ever.

"I sure do," Dash admitted, "and I owe it all to you, Twilight. I never would have given reading a chance or found out how much I like Daring Do if you hadn't gotten me that book."

"Any time," Twilight said, smiling. "You know, Dash, there are a few others books I've been meaning to turn you onto."

"No thanks," Rainbow said quickly. "I've got my reading time full of Daring Do."

"Oh." Twilight's face fell; even her horn seemed to droop.

"Say, I've got an idea!" Fluttershy exclaimed, but then her face, too, fell. "But it's probably not a very good one," she admitted, pawing at the carpet. She almost wilted when the librarian shushed her.

"It's okay, Fluttershy," Twilight comforted her. "What's your idea?"

"Well, I was just thinking, you know, and you know how Rainbow Dash never liked to read before because she thought it was uncool - "

"It _is_ uncool."

" - but then she started reading Daring Do and found out that reading is fun and can be cool."

"It's fun, but not cool." Rainbow Dash's ears laid back against her head. She didn't like where this was going.

"Any way, if other ponies could find out that the coolest pony in Ponyville reads, they might give it a try, too."

"You know, Fluttershy, that's a pretty good idea. I'm sure Rainbow Dash would draw huge crowds to the library if they just knew she frequented here."

"I do _not_ frequent this place!" Dash exclaimed heatedly, steam blowing out of her nose. "Whatever that means! I just come here whenever a new Daring Do book is going to be released!"

"It's too bad you couldn't get Daring Do to come here," Fluttershy lamented quietly. "That really would bring a lot of ponies!"

"Daring Do isn't a real person, 'Shy. She's just a character."

"Oh." Fluttershy took the news calmly, but Rainbow Dash looked no more shocked than she would have if Twilight had suddenly grown three pairs of wings and turned yellow with green stripes and orange polka dots. "What do you _mean_ she's not real?!"

"She's not a real person," Twilight repeated. "She's a character the author of the book created based on her own adventures."

Rainbow Dash fell over backward, landing hard on her wings. She clasped a hoof to her forehead.

"Oh, Dash, honestly," Twilight said with a small laugh, "you didn't already know that?"

"No!" Dash retorted. "I've been wasting all this time reading books about adventures that didn't really happen?!"

"Most books _are_ just stories that somepony thinks up," Fluttershy remarked.

"But not Daring Do!"

"Yes, Daring Do," persisted Twilight, "but they _are_ based on real adventures. I met the author once . . . " She paused, remembering, and then smiled. "Spike, take a letter."

"Huh? Who? What?"

"Take a letter," she repeated calmly.

"To Princess Celestia?"

"No. To A.K. Yearling."

"Who the heck is A.K. Yearling?" demanded Dash before SPike could ask the same question.

"The author of the Daring Do books," Twilight said, beginning to prance in place. "Fluttershy, you're brilliant!"

"I am?"

"Of course! If Dash being at the library could get little ponies to read, imagine the herd we'll have with Daring Do - ahem, I mean A.K. Yearling!"

"You think she'd come here?"

"Yes, of course, to help an important cause like the library and getting more young ponies involved with reading." Twilight smiled. "She's a friend of Princess Celestia's."

"And any friend of Princess Celestia's is a friend of Princess Twilight's!" Pinkie Pie sang out, bounding up and down, until she was sternly hushed by the librarian. "Well, she _is_," the little, pink pony insisted.

"Daring Do would _really_ come here?" Dash asked, once more falling over onto her back. This time, her hooves waved in the air in amazement.

"If she's not busy, and I happen to know right now she isn't very much so. Princess Celestia mentioned in her last letter than she was visiting her."

"I don't know what you're getting Daring Do to do, but right now ask for the whole bundle at once and get the Princess in on it too? Ha! Daring Do to do! I can make a song with that!" Pinkie Pie started to sing at the top of her lungs, but both the librarian and her friends hushed her this time.

"Please don't sing in the library, Pinkie Pie," Fluttershy humbly requested, her wings giving a small flutter. "It's supposed to be really quiet in here."

"I can sing quietly," Pinke replied. "Daring Do to do it, and the Princess can, too!"

"I can't ask the Princess," Twilight spoke, shaking her head. "She's always so busy, but I'm quite sure Daring Do - I mean, A.K. Yearling won't mind."

"Okay, so we'll just ask her," Spike said, rolling up the letter. He sent it quickly on its way with a puff of smoke that had the librarian sneering down at them.

"It's okay, ma'am." Twilight smiled reassuringly. "We just wrote a letter to A.K. Yearling asking if she would mind appearing here."

"Oh, my! A.K. Yearling here?! At our little library?! In Ponyville?! Really?!"

"That's what I said," Dash muttered even as Pinkie Pie jumped up in the air and shushed the librarian. Then she stuck out her tongue, hit the floor, and rolled with laughter.

"Oh, my! At our little library! Daring Do here!?" The librarian began to prance in pace.

Twilight looked bashful. She hadn't meant to cause such a ruckus, but already the news that Daring Do was going to make an appearance was spreading through the library like wildfire. Her ears caught the sounds of it being shouted out the door and down the road. She blushed. "Ireallyhopethisworks," she muttered through clenched teeth.

"Of course it will," Spike assured her. "Daring Do is friends with Princess Celestia, and Princess Celestia always helps. Right?"

"Ihopeyou'reright."

Squealing ponies gallopped into the library. The librarian even forgot to hush them. They came to a screeching hault when they saw Princess Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and the others. "Daring Do is coming here?"

"She's coming right here? To this library? In Ponyville?"

"When?"

"When?"

"When?"

"Are you sure?"

"Why?"

"I mean, not that I'm not grateful or anything, but why would Daring Do waste her time in a library in Ponyville?"

"Time in a library is never wasted," Twilight began to say but was interrupted before she could get more than a few words out.

"Rainbow Dash! You're here?! Then it must be true! Daring Do is coming here! Rainbow Dash wouldn't be at a boring place like a library for any other reason!"

"Actually, Scootaloo, I was already here when Twilight asked Daring Do to come visit us all."

The little pony's jaw dropped open. "_You_ were _here_ at the _library_?"

"Yes." Dash blushed deeply. "I came to check out Daring Do's newest book. It gets released today."

"And what better way to celebrate its Equestria-wide release than to have the pony who wrote it here to sign autographs?"

Almost all the ponies in Ponyville had gathered into the library, and now they all screamed again as they turned and rushed to where Daring Do, or otherwise known as A.K. Yearling, had landed. All but two rushed, any way. Even Twilight and Fluttershy left Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo to make sure A.K. wasn't trampled and try to organize the sudden event that was sure to get all the ponies in Ponyville reading once more.

Dash wanted to fly right to Daring Do, but she felt like she was caught in the gaze of Scootaloo's big, wide, and unblinking eyes. Here was the little pony who worshipped her every move, catching her at her most uncool moment. "Scootaloo, I can explain," she started to say but then stopped when the little pony grinned widely.

"I don't care why Daring Do's here. You're my hero, Rainbow Dash," she said, flying over to her and rubbing her mane against her leg. "If the library's cool enough for you to be here, then it's cool enough for me, too! Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom have been trying to talk me into joining the Summer reading progam, and now I will. I can't wait to start reading all about the ponies you like to read about!"

Dash didn't correct her. It didn't matter that there was only one series she'd encountered thus far that she liked. Twilight was right: Reading was important for young minds. Scootaloo could read all about ponies doing all sorts of dangerous things rather than trying those dangerous acts herself. She could follow along with Daring Do on her adventures and find out just how exciting, and dangerous, and cool, the world could be. All without ever leaving the safety of Ponyville.

Scootaloo leaned closer into Rainbow Dash. "Are you on the Summer reading program?" she asked.

"No. It's just for little fillies like you."

"Oh. Well, then, maybe I shouldn't be on it."

"No. No, you should. In fact, I wish I could be on it. I think my friends and I are going to start our own reading program."

"Can I be on it?"

"It's going to be some big books with big words on it," Dash warned her, "if I know Twi." And she certainly did.

"So? If you're reading it, I wanna read it!"

Dash smiled and, with Scootaloo right beside her, headed over to join her friends. "Twilight, about those other books you mentioned wanting to share with me?"

"Yes?"

"I think I might be interested in trying one or two of them."

"Daring Do! Daring Do!"

Dash looked over at Scootaloo and gaped as the bouncing pony called to her favorite heroine. "Miss Daring Do, you've got to meet the coolest pony in Ponyville!"

Daring, or A.K. if you will, flew over to the group of friends. "Of course, I do," she said, smiling. She then met Rainbow's shocked gaze. "You must be Rainbow Dash." She held her hoof out to her. "Princess Twilight has told me all about you!"

Rainbow fell over a third time on her back that day, but as she scrambled to recover from her embarrassing reaction, she had to admit to herself that reading really was cool. After all, if not for books, a certain library, and a certain friend, she never would have met Daring Do, the only other pony in all of Equestia who was as cool as she and the Wonderbolts.

Twilight smiled, quietly watching the two of them. The whole town of Ponyville was going to know that reading was cool before the day was over. Their Summer reading program was already overflowing with the names of little ponies eagerly signing onto it. Applejack nudged her. "It's kinda nice being the Princess sometimes, ain't it?" she drawled in a hushed tone.

"Yes," Twilight admitted, beaming, "it is, but it's even nicer being friends with ponies like you all."

"'Course it is, Sugarcube. Now about that readin' program . . . "

The End


End file.
